Alice Elizabeth Valdez was born in El Paso, Texas on June 2, 1947, to Bertha and Jose Vargas. One of five children, Alice learned at a young age about independent and creative thinking, as well as the importance of individualism. Bertha and Jose Vargas, who were very active in their neighborhood Catholic church, encouraged their children to dedicate their time to their church and community. Alice enjoyed music as a child, and began singing music liturgy and studying the clarinet. Her parents' efforts in combating socioeconomic inequality in Juarez, Mexico, through organized food drives and community-based economic assistance programs, led Alice to an understanding of the effects of poverty on the human spirit, and formed her resolve to continue their efforts in her own life.

Upon entering Austin High School, Alice decided to continue her music studies, switching from clarinet to oboe. She began studying with Richard Henderson, an oboist with the El Paso symphony, and, through his mentorship, refined her talents as a performer, and was the first chair oboist throughout high school. She decided to major in music at the college level, and, when the time came, was offered music scholarships at Webster College in St. Louis, New Mexico State University, as well as the University of Texas at El Paso. She accepted a full scholarship at UT El Paso, and went on to perform with the El Paso ballet, opera and symphony, in addition to her studies with UT El Paso's orchestra and band programs. While this rigorous training and discipline served as a training ground for future community work, it led to an appreciation and understanding of the importance of the role of aesthetics in daily life which she resolved to incorporate somehow into her future.

Meanwhile, Alice had been continuing her work with economically disadvantaged minorities in the El Paso area, and through an informal study she conducted as a student at UT El Paso revealed the extent of the socioeconomic inequality. Alice made a personal commitment to reach, through music education, youth and adults in poverty level communities. While at UTEP she was a member of Tau Bet Sigma sorority and Sigma Alpha Iota music honors fraternity. After graduating from college, Alice moved to Atlanta with her husband Roberto G. Valdez, and began teaching minority youth in the Decalb School District. Roberto and Alice moved to Houston in 1971, and Alice began her studies towards a Masters Degree in Musicology from the University of Houston. In addition to being pregnant with her first daughter, Clarissa, she began teaching religion and music courses at Annunciation Catholic School.

Living in Bellaire through this period, Alice felt isolated from the Hispanic community and culture, and with her family began attending Saint Joseph Catholic Church, located in Houston's Old Sixth Ward. Shortly, after, Alice and Roberto became responsible for the religious education program at Saint Joseph and Alice became the Director of Music Liturgy. Alice worked for Gulf Coast Community Services as a youth counselor. She and was asked to develop an alternative education arts program by Sam Rosales, S.J., who was pastor of Saint Joseph at the time. Alice and Roberto were the founders and first directors of the Saint Joseph Multi Ethnic Festival Committee, and through the recommendation of the Cultural Arts Council of Houston, incorporated the festival with her newly minted Multicultural Education and Counseling through the Arts. MECA, which has grown from serving 300 students to almost 3,000 annually, provides through private and public funding, experience in the performing and visual arts to low income, at risk youth in Houston's near downtown neighborhoods. MECA was designated the 382nd Point of Light by President George Herbert Walker Bush, and through Alice's direction, a major inner city art park was constructed by local youth in the Old Sixth Ward. This park, which won the American Institute of Architects award for Public Art, is home to artwork by several winning artists, and who's mural, A United Community, is a well-known landmark in the Old Sixth Ward.

Alice was awarded a place in the Hispanic Women's Hall of Fame in 1989 and that same year won the Fiestas Patrias Distinguished Hispanic award. She was the recipient of the Jefferson Award for community service, and was honored by such diverse groups as LULAC, and the Alley Theater, and has spoken at the commencement of the Chinquapin school. She is revered by her community as an advocate for social and cultural reform, and by her family as a devoted wife and mother.

In 1999 Alice Valdez was honored to be included in the Mayor's Millennium Makers, Vol. I. The Mayor's Millennium Makers Series contains Evin Thayer photographs of native and adopted Houstonians who have contributed to Houston's growth and development from a small settlement on the bayou into an international city. The proceeds from the publication of the book will fund the Evin Thayer Scholarship Fund of the Greater Houston Community Foundation, making it possible for talented young people to continue their study of the arts.

In December 2000, the YWCA of Houston named Alice E. Valdez an Outstanding Woman of Achievement in the Arts as part of their 22nd Annual Outstanding Women's Luncheon. In the summer of 2001, Mrs. Valdez joined the board of directors of NALAC (National Association of Latino Arts and Culture). Just recently, the Hispanic school administrators awarded Alice with the Estrella award in recognition of her longstanding commitment to education for all.